Choosing the Right Telemarketer

onNovember 12, 2015

People often ask me what makes an outstanding telemarketer. Having developed my career within the marketing industry, I have recruited many telemarketing professionals and interviewed dozens more. Finding a skilled telemarketer who is highly motivated to achieve success, with the ability to nurture and protect your brand whilst fully understanding your business, is not always an easy task. If you are outsourcing to a telemarketing company, always ask to meet the people who will be delivering your campaign. Here are some things to look for when choosing telemarketers to represent your business:

Intelligent – Professional telemarketing requires much more than reading a script over the telephone. Your telemarketers must have the ability to fully understand your products and services in order for them to pitch coherently. Therefore, they must be able to think on their feet, using accurate information to answer questions and overcome objections from your prospects. An excellent telemarketer will spot opportunities intuitively and qualify them to your requirements.

Confident and Articulate – When making contact with new prospects or even existing customers, there is very limited time to get your message across. Your telemarketers must be confident (without being too pushy or aggressive) in their use of the telephone, whilst being unafraid of speaking with new people and able to build rapport quickly.

Ability to Listen – It’s vital that your telemarketers are willing to listen carefully to your prospects rather than broadcasting a blanket message to them. Good telemarketers will listen out for needs, wants and buying signals so they provide relevant information about your business. They should use appropriate questioning techniques to gather information and nurture a natural two-way conversation.

Empathetic – A telemarketer should be sympathetic to a prospect’s situation. Often telemarketers will be contacting senior decision makers who have limited time on their hands. They need to imagine themselves in the shoes of these people and apply sensitivity when calling them often unexpectedly.

Strong Literacy and Record Keeping Skills – Excellent telemarketers need the ability to produce good quality written as well as verbal communication. It’s no use having a good conversation on the telephone, if the telemarketer is unable to continue the rapport in written correspondence requested by the prospect via email. The telemarketer needs the ability to record accurate information in the database for others to understand and to report intelligent market and competitor feedback to their client or line manager in report format.

Continually Motivated to Achieve Success – Most importantly, telemarketers should enjoy working in a fast paced marketing environment within a long term career they love, rather than looking for a stop gap between jobs. Successful telemarketing companies keep their staff long term giving their telemarketers fulfilling roles allowing them to maintain long term relationships with clients. Thick-skinned and determined to succeed, an outstanding telemarketer will be able to handle rejection appropriately and make every call with total professionalism.

At Lightning Transformations we understand the complexities within the telemarketing function and its integration with other marketing channels such as email marketing and social media. That’s why we employ the most able people within our industry. If you’re thinking of outsourcing your telemarketing, call us today on 01284 332 738 or 07803 206 166.